UK opposition leaders demand human rights activist be stripped of citizenship for past tweets
LONDON (AP) — Political opposition leaders in the United Kingdom have called for the stripping of a human rights activist’s citizenship over past social media posts that allegedly contained violent and anti-Semitic language, just days after the dual citizen returned to Britain after years in Egyptian prisons.
Leaders of the Conservative and Reform parties also called for his deportation. Alaa Abdul Fattah Following the emergence of tweets allegedly supporting the killing of “Zionists” and police more than a decade ago.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wrote in the Daily Mail on Monday: “His comments on social media about violence against Jews, white people and police, among others, are disgusting and disgusting.”
Abdul Fattah apologized for the tweets on Monday, saying some were taken out of context and misrepresented.
The activist most recently spent years in Egyptian prisons for allegedly spreading fake news about the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. He returned to the UK on Friday after Egyptian authorities lifted a travel ban that had forced him to remain in the country since his release in September.
But he was immediately embroiled in controversy after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “delighted” to have Abdel Fattah return to the UK and be reunited with his family.
This triggered the posting of messages described as anti-Semitic, homophobic and anti-British on social media platform Twitter, now X.
Abdul Fattah expressed his shock at the turn of events in his statement on Monday.
“Just as I was reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, I was shocked that many of my historic tweets were republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship.” he said.
Abdel Fattah said these words mostly expressed a young man’s anger and frustrations during regional crises such as wars in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza, and increased police violence against young people in Egypt.
“Looking back at the tweets now – those that were not completely distorted from their meaning – I realize how shocking and hurtful they were, and for that I publicly apologize,” he said in a statement.
But this did not stop the flow of anger from politicians.
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage described the posts as “disgusting” and said they showed Abdel Fattah had views that were “completely contrary to our British way of life”.
“It goes without saying that anyone who holds racist and anti-British views such as Mr elFattah (sic) should not be allowed to enter the UK,” Farage wrote in a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who oversees immigration matters.
